MIPT is one of the leading universities in the areas of physics, mathematics, and informatics. The institute holds a leading position in Russia in quality recruitment and qualified graduate training. Students and graduates of MIPT are representatives of an elite circle who, thanks to their interdisciplinary scientific surroundings, are able to fully realize their potential.

The unique “Fiztech System” is one of the best approaches to education, which explains its existence in an almost unchanged form for more that 60 years. Receiving a fundamental education in mathematics and physics and a preliminary acquaintance with the chosen specialization, along with the acquisition of skills in independent work already by the 4th course provides each student with the knowledge and experience of a full scholar. Thus, by the end of the program, students already have significant achievements in their chosen area of activity.

In the present age of digital technology, time plays a particularly important role. Education of a difficult and protracted nature allows students and graduates of MIPT to always be in the trend of world science and to adapt to sudden changes in the situation.

Student life at MIPT is rich and diverse. Students actively combine educational activities with sports, participation in cultural events, as well as their creative endeavors. The administration at the institute strongly supports this initiative and cares about the welfare of its students. Thus, it is constantly working to expand the campus and interests of students.

In the present age of digital technology, time plays a particularly important role. Education of a difficult and protracted nature allows students and graduates of MIPT to always be in the trend of world science and to adapt to sudden changes in the situation.

Researchers from MIPT’s Laboratory of Computer Design of New Materials Predict Properties of Surface Structure of Known Catalyst

An article in Physical Review Letters, which was written by a group of researchers led by Qinggao Wang from MIPT’s Laboratory of Computer Design of New Materials, investigates the surface of titanium dioxide crystals.

“We chose this substance because rutile, a mineral composed primarily of titanium dioxide (TiO2),is one of the most commonly used catalysts in chemistry, ”Qinggao Wang said about choosing the subject of research.

In their work, the researchers used the USPEX method, developed by the head of the laboratory, Artem Oganov, who co-authored the article. Professor Oganov explains in detail:

“One of the most promising and challenging areas of materials design is predicting and describing the properties of the surface of a substance, where special surface phases are formed, whose chemical composition and structure may differ significantly from the internal structure. It’s very difficult to describe and predict these surface phases, proceeding from basic elementary data.

“Theoretical methods of calculating the properties of surfaces are complicated by some major hindrances, but we’ve developed a very powerful and effective way to predict the structure and properties of crystal surfaces, based on our USPEX algorithm. We used it for one of the most studied types of surfaces, rutile, a catalyst consisting of titanium dioxide.

“There’s a great number of articles about its surface, which purport to understand rutile’s catalytic properties. However, if you look at these articles, you’ll see that they contradict each other.

“Our method helped us predict how the structure and chemistry of the surface of rutile crystals will change, resolving existing discrepancies between empirical and theoretical data and paving the way to understanding how chemical reactions occur on the surface of this catalyst. This shows the potential of our theory for predicting surface phases, and we expect to obtain a large amount of data in this field.”